I have a seven-week-old son, and I've been attending meetings for a parent support group. In my area, in July/August, the most popular names were Olivia and Dash.

People have reacted overall positively to our son's name, so I think we chose well. It's a "real" name, and while it's very uncommon, most people have heard it because of a popular fictional character. It's also the name of a double Nobel laureate, so it passes the "Doctor ____ / President ____" test with flying colors.

The goal when naming our daughter was a name that was not very common, but not weird that nobody's ever heard of. Also, whatever we picked would be spelled properly. She was very nearly Sara, but we last minute decided on Jamie Lynn, which is perfect, I haven't met another young child with the name, usually an adult here and there will have it.

DrBrownCow:Babbs: Yeah, you just don't see it as often as you do now. Then there is my parents who went with the typical 60's names for their kids. Barbara. Yuk. You NEVER see a baby or young girl named Barbara anymore.In the last 100 years, the name Barbara has never been as unpopular as it is today. In 2012 it was the 900th most popular baby name. It was in the top 10 from 1927 to 1958, and the second most popular name during the late 1930s and early 1940s. It has been on a steady decline ever since. Still, while it may be an unpopular name, it is not unusual. I doubt most people react negatively to it.[s10.postimg.org image 850x707]

The name Barbara was cursed forever by the Beach Boys, so that girls named Barbara will forever be called "Ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-baran." And guess what will happen if you name your girl Roxanne for about the next 40 years?

FourPetesake:The goal when naming our daughter was a name that was not very common, but not weird that nobody's ever heard of. Also, whatever we picked would be spelled properly. She was very nearly Sara, but we last minute decided on Jamie Lynn, which is perfect, I haven't met another young child with the name, usually an adult here and there will have it.

But at least Ava and Emma are pretty names. Your nephew's name? WAT. My niece named her kid "Briar". WTF?

There are kids in my sons' classes named "Kairo" and "Israel" for the boys and "Mystery" and "Charisma" for the girls.

My neighbors have a 3 year old named Israel who they call Izzy for short, which is pretty damn adorable. They just had another boy named Ryland (Railen, I don't know how it spelled). Its different, but its a nice enough sounding name.

5 years ago when we were expecting our son we contemplated passing mine and my dads name on to him so he'd be the 3rd and we'd call him Trip. Then Sarah Palin's daughter named her kid trip so that was out of the question. We got a baby book and picked out the names we liked and yelled them upstairs, Ethan seemed to sound the most natural so we went with that, calling him now just E or Mister E.

Forty-Two:I have a seven-week-old son, and I've been attending meetings for a parent support group. In my area, in July/August, the most popular names were Olivia and Dash.

People have reacted overall positively to our son's name, so I think we chose well. It's a "real" name, and while it's very uncommon, most people have heard it because of a popular fictional character. It's also the name of a double Nobel laureate, so it passes the "Doctor ____ / President ____" test with flying colors.

Seacop:FourPetesake: The goal when naming our daughter was a name that was not very common, but not weird that nobody's ever heard of. Also, whatever we picked would be spelled properly. She was very nearly Sara, but we last minute decided on Jamie Lynn, which is perfect, I haven't met another young child with the name, usually an adult here and there will have it.

Isn't that Britney Spears Sister?

And Meadow from The Sopranos?

yes and yes. but who gives a crap about Britney Spears' sister? And I've got no problem with Meadow Soprano, awesome show. There will be connotations with any name, I think Jamie is pretty neutral.

Forty-Two:I have a seven-week-old son, and I've been attending meetings for a parent support group. In my area, in July/August, the most popular names were Olivia and Dash.

People have reacted overall positively to our son's name, so I think we chose well. It's a "real" name, and while it's very uncommon, most people have heard it because of a popular fictional character. It's also the name of a double Nobel laureate, so it passes the "Doctor ____ / President ____" test with flying colors.

Saul T. Balzac:Forty-Two: I have a seven-week-old son, and I've been attending meetings for a parent support group. In my area, in July/August, the most popular names were Olivia and Dash.

People have reacted overall positively to our son's name, so I think we chose well. It's a "real" name, and while it's very uncommon, most people have heard it because of a popular fictional character. It's also the name of a double Nobel laureate, so it passes the "Doctor ____ / President ____" test with flying colors.

Names always go in trends, but it seems like a lot of people are resorting to just being "trendy" with naming their kids than having meaning. I wouldn't want to be in a class with 10 people with the same name.

Our kids are named Elizabeth and Jonathan (whom we call Jack). No one mispronounces their names, and no one misspells their names- two things I had to deal with my whole life. I don't know what advantage their is to giving your kid a 'unique' name other than to burden them for their entire life with something that no one can pronounce, no one can spell and will be a source of teasing from their classmates. Your kid will be who they are...their name isn't going to turn them into the person you want them to be. It can, however, be a detriment to them.

When I was in high school, I once took a french class that had a total of 9 students, and 4 of us were named Jason. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but if I ever have a son his name will be Hercules. If you're going to name your kid after an ancient Greek hero, you might as well go all the way.

I have recently come around to liking alternate spellings of common names. I recently met a girl named Aarica, and I'm absolutely terrible with names, but I always remember hers. The weird spelling acts as a sort of mnemonic.

After farking Highlander and X-Men came out in theaters, I swear you could ONLY find boys with those names. I suppose I should be glad Ororo didn't catch on.

DO NOT name kids after comic book, scifi, fantasy, movie, anime, or video game characters. Avoid oddball celebrity names, too. I don't want my future stepson to come home with a girl named Sookie, Khloe, or Samus, dammit.

FourPetesake:Seacop: FourPetesake: The goal when naming our daughter was a name that was not very common, but not weird that nobody's ever heard of. Also, whatever we picked would be spelled properly. She was very nearly Sara, but we last minute decided on Jamie Lynn, which is perfect, I haven't met another young child with the name, usually an adult here and there will have it.

Isn't that Britney Spears Sister?

And Meadow from The Sopranos?

yes and yes. but who gives a crap about Britney Spears' sister? And I've got no problem with Meadow Soprano, awesome show. There will be connotations with any name, I think Jamie is pretty neutral.

ZeroCorpse:FourPetesake: Seacop: FourPetesake: The goal when naming our daughter was a name that was not very common, but not weird that nobody's ever heard of. Also, whatever we picked would be spelled properly. She was very nearly Sara, but we last minute decided on Jamie Lynn, which is perfect, I haven't met another young child with the name, usually an adult here and there will have it.

Isn't that Britney Spears Sister?

And Meadow from The Sopranos?

yes and yes. but who gives a crap about Britney Spears' sister? And I've got no problem with Meadow Soprano, awesome show. There will be connotations with any name, I think Jamie is pretty neutral.

I knew a guy named Jamie.

Jamie was originally a nickname for James. Wikipedia puts the 1950s when it started to be used for girls. Jaime (pronounce Hi-Mae) is a very masculine name in Spanish and Portuguese language cultures and gets anglicized to a pronunciation of Jamie.

And look at all these alternate spellings for Jamie on Wikipedia.Jamie, Jaime, Jaimee, Jamee, Ja'mie, Jamey, Jaymie, Jayme, or Jaymee

meow said the dog:Listen I can see the two sides of this very much. One side says that if you give the child of you the unique name then they can do the standing out from the crowd. The other side of this says to provide to the child of you the most common names of the others so they can have the sharing in the glory of the name. I do not know which side of this is the correct side and am doing the asking of you the Fark.com members but I can also provide to you the reasons for each of the sides to provide the greater chance of making the decision through the information upon which has been the provision of me. You are welcome.

One side of this says to provide to the child of you the unique name. The reason for this side is the simple one. In the twenty years the child of you can have the LAUGHTERS OLS about the individuals who all have the same names and also play the prankings by doing the drive to Texas and go to the crowd to say JACOBBBBBBB. Or perhaps to Nebraska to say, "LIAMMMMMMMM." Or perhaps to Florida to say, "JAYDENNNNNN." This last one of course is the jokings of me because if the child of you goes to the area of Florida upon which Jayden is said he will be the one who has the shankings provided. Now this side is also saying that perhaps the child of you will stand out on the resume because the person who is doing the hiring will say OH NO NOT THE NEW APPLICANT NAMED SOPHIA! WE HAVE EIGHT OF THOSE ALREADY IN THE OFFICE OF THIS! Then they will wish for hiring the unique named child of you because they will say OH THIS IS THE APPLICANT OF THE NAME DAWNLIZABETH THIS IS THE NAME WHICH IS EASY FOR REMEMBRANCE OF! Of course there is also the bad parts of this and that is that listen no one cares about the stupid unique name of the child of you. What will you do also continue doing the wiping of this child into the 20s. The unique name does not provide to you the uniqueness because you are not the individual who is that different from the rest of the people who wish for the d ...

I needed something like that, thanks. My first child was born yesterday and this is my first quiet moment with him.....

cryinoutloud:DrBrownCow: Babbs: Yeah, you just don't see it as often as you do now. Then there is my parents who went with the typical 60's names for their kids. Barbara. Yuk. You NEVER see a baby or young girl named Barbara anymore.In the last 100 years, the name Barbara has never been as unpopular as it is today. In 2012 it was the 900th most popular baby name. It was in the top 10 from 1927 to 1958, and the second most popular name during the late 1930s and early 1940s. It has been on a steady decline ever since. Still, while it may be an unpopular name, it is not unusual. I doubt most people react negatively to it.[s10.postimg.org image 850x707]

The name Barbara was cursed forever by the Beach Boys, so that girls named Barbara will forever be called "Ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-baran." And guess what will happen if you name your girl Roxanne for about the next 40 years?

I think that only might happen with the less popular names. On my generation, there are a ton of women named Jenny, but not many people joke about their phone numbers.

Just imagine if FARK had a moderator named Roxanne doing headline approval.

Saul T. Balzac:Forty-Two: I have a seven-week-old son, and I've been attending meetings for a parent support group. In my area, in July/August, the most popular names were Olivia and Dash.

People have reacted overall positively to our son's name, so I think we chose well. It's a "real" name, and while it's very uncommon, most people have heard it because of a popular fictional character. It's also the name of a double Nobel laureate, so it passes the "Doctor ____ / President ____" test with flying colors.

Well, maybe not really. When I was growing up, everyone could pronounce it just fine and said, "oh, that's a neat name". What they DIDN'T say was, "...and I'm going to steal it and look original. My parents weren't being original; it's a quite common Irish name. But, for some reason, people can't ever spell it right from pronunciation. I always get "Brandon". To which I say, "oh, is that how you represent the 'eh' sound in your language?"

The other thing I hate was back when I had a nametag, parents would come up and point and say to their kid, "oh look, he spells it like you!". "No, you spell it like mine, get it right" And, OMG, parents screaming at their kids with my name has freaked me out the few times it's happened. My wife has the most popular female movie name ever and she is unfazed when she hears it to the point that I can't get her attention when we're out in public.

Saul T. Balzac:Babbs: Does anyone else think it's weird that Walt's wife name is Skyler? I mean, she's in her 40's. Nobody in their 40's is named "Skyler". It just doesn't suit the character. It just has bugged me from day one. Oh, and I really need a life.

I'm quite close to forty, and I went to school with a girl my age named Skyler (same spelling and all). Until very recently, she was the only Skyler I had ever met in my life. I also went to school with a Mackenzie and a McKenna, two girls from two different families who received surnames as first names.

So, yes, even in the 1970s, parents were doing this to their kids, just not in the same numbers they are doing it now.

Dow Jones and the Temple of Doom:Honestly I'm surprised "Pablo" and "Esperanza" aren't the most popular names in the south what with the way the Spanics are shiatting out little mouths for EBT to feed.

It's just math. FF 18 years to when they can vote, and watch your back, whitey.

That's Teagan-- and by the time that'd make any difference, she'll probably be out of the business anyway. (And really, if you stopped naming kids after porn stars, we'd have to drop Rachel, Kelly, Naomi, Ava, Megan, Angelina, Nina, Sarah, Jenny, Katie, Nicole, Amy, Kimberly, April, etc...)

Teagan is a really horrible, trendy name to name your kid. It's not going to age well.

It's better than Jovanka ;) And it's Tegan. And I'm not really seeing how it's particularly trendy: The internet says it broke into the top 1,000 names in 1999, and as of 2007 there were a good 400 more popular names, and it's not especially new since there've been "Tegan"s since at least the 1850s.

Tegan is a trailer trash name. It's trying to be cool and original and failing. Christ, what's wrong with Sally or Mary or Jane ?

Forty-Two:Saul T. Balzac: Forty-Two: I have a seven-week-old son, and I've been attending meetings for a parent support group. In my area, in July/August, the most popular names were Olivia and Dash.

People have reacted overall positively to our son's name, so I think we chose well. It's a "real" name, and while it's very uncommon, most people have heard it because of a popular fictional character. It's also the name of a double Nobel laureate, so it passes the "Doctor ____ / President ____" test with flying colors.

bborchar:Our kids are named Elizabeth and Jonathan (whom we call Jack). No one mispronounces their names, and no one misspells their names- two things I had to deal with my whole life. I don't know what advantage their is to giving your kid a 'unique' name other than to burden them for their entire life with something that no one can pronounce, no one can spell and will be a source of teasing from their classmates. Your kid will be who they are...their name isn't going to turn them into the person you want them to be. It can, however, be a detriment to them.

That would explain why the boy's name Thare never took off, it would've been the most misspelled name ever.

semiotix:About half the men in a college class I teach go by their middle names. Is that a thing now?

Their first names are not noticeably more or less "normal" than their middle names. Weird.

My boyfriend goes by his middle name. He said it's very common for people in the South to do it. A lot of the time it seems to be because they're named after their fathers, and either they hate them or they want to assert their own identity.